Items come up missing at hospital

Jen Lawson

Thursday, Jan. 8, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

After Dale Johnson, a library janitor, died at Lake Mead Hospital Medical Center, there wasn't money for a funeral because someone drained his bank account by using his debit card to buy more than $300 in hospital uniforms -- after his death, his caretaker said.

About $345 also apparently went missing from his hospital room, his ex-wife and friend, Linda Anderson said.

"How could someone do something like that?" Anderson said. "My main concern is, how much has this happened in the past? Whoever this person is has done this before."

Johnson, 62, who was terminally ill, was admitted to the hospital Dec. 2. He and Anderson had been married for a short time when they were younger and remained friends. Johnson had granted her power of attorney.

When it looked like he would be in the hospital for more than a few days, Johnson arranged for family members to come to the hospital to get $345 he had in his hospital room to help pay his rent, but no money was in his wallet.

His health declined and Johnson was placed on life support. However, Anderson said he didn't want to be kept alive artificially.

"He couldn't breathe on his own," Anderson said. "I took his hand and told him I was going to unhook everything."

He died Dec. 24.

Anderson said when she asked for his wallet, clothing, shoes, cell phone and other personal belongings, hospital personnel told her that Johnson's things had been misplaced but they would keep looking for them.

On Jan. 2, Anderson checked back with the hospital and was told Johnson's possessions had been found. They had been at the third floor nurses station, she said.

Anderson remembered that relatives had told her that cash had apparently gone missing from his wallet and she became suspicious. She decided to call the bank to make sure his bank card hadn't been improperly used.

She was shocked when she was told Johnson's account had been drained.

"They said there's nothing in the account. He charged something on the 31st of December," Anderson said. "I said, 'He couldn't have. He's dead.' "

Someone had bought $302 worth of hospital uniforms from TMI Scrubs Express using Johnson's card, she said.

Johnson wasn't wealthy, Anderson said, and that would have been a lot of money to him. Before Johnson got sick, he worked as a janitor for the Clark County Library and as a porter at the Silver Nugget in North Las Vegas.

"Whoever did this, I want them prosecuted," Anderson said. "They way I was raised you don't disrespect the dead."

She reported it to hospital officials but "their attitude was, 'It's not our problem,' " she said.

Johnson's money would have been put toward funeral costs, but Anderson said "there weren't any funeral services because there was no money for funeral services."

His 88-year-old mother arranged to have her son cremated and shipped to Michigan.

Anderson said she filed a report Tuesday with the North Las Vegas Police as a last resort because no one at the hospital would listen to her.

"I was tired of trying to talk to people," she said.

The complaint alleges only credit card fraud and not the theft of money from his wallet because his things went missing before and resurfaced, Anderson said, so there's a chance the money could be found too.

Officer Justin Roberts, spokesman for the police department, said the complaint had been turned over to the fraud unit and that detectives were investigating.

On Wednesday afternoon, hospital officials agreed to meet with Anderson. She said they told her they had determined the scrubs purchase had been made online from a particular computer in the hospital.

Nancy Whitman, spokeswoman for the hospital, issued a written statement and declined to comment further.

The two-paragraph statement says "theft of patient personal belongings while in our case will not be tolerated" and that they are cooperating with police. It points out that patients have the option of putting their belongings in a safe.

Anderson said she would like the hospital to compensate Johnson's mother for his monetary loss and she wants the thief or thieves to be punished.

"It's not about the money to me," Anderson said. "He was one of my best friends. He would not let this happen to me and I will not let this happen to him."